Father Rupen Datta who lost wife and three children in horror crash in India dies in hospital

Kate Aubusson

An Australian father whose wife and three children were killed in a horrific crash in India has died in hospital two weeks after the tragic accident.

Rupen Datta initially survived the crash on the Yamuna Expressway that killed his wife Anamika, their three children - daughters Neetika and Pipasa, aged 12 and 15, and son Tirvijai, 20 - and Anamika's sister Sonia, 25, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on 10 January.

Mr Datta suffered serious head injuries and was receiving treatment in hospital, a family friend said shortly after the crash, adding that "my heart is breaking for all the friends, colleagues, family".

The family had left the Indian city of Delhi and were driving towards the Taj Mahal along the six-lane Expressway.

Mrs Datta's father, identified by Indian police as NK Paliwal, and the driver, Shambhu Paswan, were also in the Toyota Qualis.

Police said one of the vehicle's tyres burst about 3.30pm, local time, causing the vehicle to crash into a safety barrier, then a road divider, before the vehicle overturned and landed on the incorrect side of the highway. A number of the victims were thrown from the vehicle in the crash, police said.

Residents of a nearby village tried to help the family before police arrived, but the two women and two girls died at the scene. Tirvijai was taken to Mathura Hospital where he died a short time later, police said.

Mr Datta, originally from Delhi, had owned the Urban India restaurant in Mile End in Adelaide's inner west for the past 10 years, an employee said.